Catholic Churches of NCC includes: Saint Patrick Parish Seneca WI; Saint Philip Parish Rolling Ground WI; Saint Mary Parish Gays Mills WI; St James Cemetery Rising Sun WI; Kneeland Cemetery Seneca WI catholicchurchesofncc.com

Sunday, February 1^st, 2026

4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. Mary, St. Patrick, St. Philip Parishes

Mailing address for all three parishes:    PO Box 35, Seneca WI 54654

Website: https://www.catholicchurchesofncc.com

Confessions: Normally, 30 minutes before every Mass

and by appointment.

Normal Monthly Eucharistic Adoration:

St. Patrick: First Friday after the 8:30 AM Mass

St. Philip: First Sunday after the 10:30 AM Mass

Mass Intentions This Week

Pastor: Fr. Tom Huff – Rectory 608-734-3252 email: frtomhuff@gmail.com

Bookkeeper, Bulletin, Mass Intentions, Membership: Kevin Murray 608-391-0434 or 608-734-3931

email: secretary@ncc.diolcparish.org

A BIG THANK YOU to YVONNE HADY for her many years of dedication in doing Membership, Mass Intentions and the Bulletin faithfully every week.  May her days be less hectic and more relaxing.

New Bulletin Information Deadline: Mondays at 6:00 PM. Bulletin is posted on our website.

UPCOMING PARISH EVENTS

Adult Faith Study at St. Mary is on Tuesday February 3^rd at 1:30pm

St. Philip Announcements:

St. Philip Candles: Contact Bonnie Murphy. The cost is $5 per candle.

Food Pantry items are needed. Please leave any gift at the rear of the Church.

Ed Ehorn is in the nursing home in Richland Center and would appreciate any cards. His address is: Pine Valley Community Village, 25951 Circle View Lane, Richland Center, 53581.

The St. Philips PCCW will have a meeting following the 8:30 am mass on Tuesday February 10th. Please plan to attend if you’re able. We will review our fall bazaar and plan our spring breakfast. Please contact Peggy Schmitt 608-295-2107 if you have any questions or concerns.

St. Mary Announcements:

Rosary – 30 minutes before Mass

First Sunday Potluck Brunch after Mass each first Sunday of the month. All are welcome, dish to share is appreciated, but not required. Next potluck is Sunday, March. 1^st.

Saint Mary’s is open 7:00am – 6:00pm (winter hours) daily. Please feel free to come and pray and light a candle if you would like.

Food Pantry Donations can be left in the basket in the rear of the Church.

St. Patrick Announcements:

In need of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion! Anyone willing to volunteer your time to be an Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion Saturday nights or Sunday mornings please text or call Sue Boland @ 608-851-0192.

Volunteers needed for praying the Rosary prior to the weekend Masses! If you would like to share in your devotion to the Rosary, please, consider being in the weekly rotation. Each volunteer can pray the Rosary starting approximately 20 min prior to Mass.  For each weekend assigned, you can choose the Mass; Saturday evening OR Sunday morning, depending on your schedule needs that weekend.

If interested in being on the rotation schedule, please, contact Anne Johnson at: home 608-874-4298 ; cell 608-412-1848 ; or by e-mail: waffetti2003@gmail.com

Thank you to all those serving the parish currently and in the past! God bless you all!

Tri-Parish Announcements:

The Lenten Season is soon approaching:  Ash Wednesday is February 18.We are planning for our Tri-Parish Wednesday Evening Soup Suppers following the Stations of the Cross. We will have 5 Soup Suppers, Feb. 25 - Mar. 25. Anyone from our tri-parishes who would like to participate in preparing/helping with the suppers would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Yvonne Hady at 608 485-2109 or hadyy@mwt.net by Feb. 2 if you are able to help out.

We need more Mass Intentions for All Parishes

Youth Envelopes: If the youth members of our parishes would like their own youth envelopes for giving to the Church let us know. Youth envelopes are available. Please contact Kevin if you are interested.

2026 Donation Envelopes are available now. The envelopes do really help us here in the office and are a good reminder for special collections throughout the year. If you do not receive envelopes currently and would like to, please contact Kevin Murray 608-391-0434 or 608-734-3931 email: secretary@ncc.diolcparish.org

The Weekly Bulletin Email will no longer contain a copy of the bulletin as an attachment. Instead, the email will contain a link to the bulletin page of our website. The bulletin page of our website is updated weekly on Fridays. We have had several problems with people receiving this email. If you would like to receive an email with the Weekly Parish Bulletin link; please email secretary@ncc.diolcparish.org and you will be added to the email list. Here is the web address that is the link to the Weekly Parish Bulletin:

https://www.catholicchurchesofncc.com/bulletins

Other Announcements:

Notice from Bishop Battersby: In light especially of the tragic violence and chaos that has unfolded recently in Minneapolis, Bishop Battersby has requested that the parishes within the diocese within the next two weeks have a Votive Mass for Peace (which I will do at each parish) and include the special intention of peace in Minneapolis at Mass (which I will do), and include this intention during our parish Eucharist Adoration times. The Sunday Parish Rosary on the next two weekends please include the intention of Peace in Minneapolis.

Ash Wednesday Masses

Morning:                                                              Evening:

8:30 am at St. Philip                                               5:00 pm at St. Mary

8:30 am at St. Patrick                                             7:00 pm at St. Philip

                                                                                        7:00 pm at St. Patrick

Tri-Parish Prayer List – We want to pray for the ill and others in our parishes who need ongoing prayer. To be placed on or to place someone on our prayer list, please call: Sue Peterson 608-735-4865, Bonnie Murphy 608-386-4954, or Ica Boylen 608-734-3287.

Income from Last Week

From the Priest’s Corner: The Beatitudes

An atheist once suggested that the Good News of Jesus Christ is directed at losers, not at winners. As in many things, a lot depends upon your viewpoint, the angle from which you are looking at things. It’s all a question of having eyes to see and ears to hear so that we may rightly understand, which is another name for the virtue of Faith. The virtue of Faith allows one to see things as God sees them.

Our Lord teaches His disciples on the Mount of the Beatitudes. Recalling how Moses went up a mountain to obtain the Law of God. So now Jesus, the new Moses, develops more fully the meaning of God's law to His followers.

The worldly-minded are those who lack the virtue of Faith or may even go so far as to attempt to suppress the development of the virtue of Faith in others as well as in themselves, for fear of what it would require of them. What the worldly-minded see as desirable, God does not, and visa-versa. It is no wonder, then, that the worldly-minded person will not only mock and scorn the Beatitudes, but will also mock and scorn Jesus and His teachings. Jesus describes those who are truly blessed as those who are poor in spirit, humble, merciful, honest, upright, pure of heart, peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for being faithful to Jesus and His teachings.

If anyone thinks that the Beatitudes are for the weak or losers, then they really don’t understand the strength and courage that it takes to live them out. At Mass and through the other sacraments we Catholics are meant to be nourished and strengthened. We need Jesus and His grace to be clear-sighted and to remain strong in living out His teachings. With Jesus and His grace, we can face whatever the world may throw at us. With Jesus and His grace, we can allow God’s blessedness to live within our hearts, and through us in our world today. The teachings of the Beatitudes challenges every one of us to a fundamental review of our own way of thinking and the daily choices we are making.

DIVINE MERCY IN MY SOUL - St. Faustina writes, You have given me to know and understand in what a soul’s greatness consists: not in great deeds but in great love. …Although our actions are small and ordinary in themselves, because of love they become great and powerful before God. (Diary 1092)

CONSIDERING THE PRIESTHOOD?

High schoolers and young men are welcome have a dinner or a day of retreat. Young men possibly interested in a priestly vocation are invited to spend time with Fr. Steve Weller and others at one of the follwing events:

1. St. Andrew Dinner (Young men, 14 and older) March 22 - Holy Cross Diocesan Center, La Crosse

2. Dare to Follow Retreat (Middle School boys) June 9-10 - Holy Cross Diocesan Center, La Crosse

St. Andrew Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScgSctaag9R_2czoYx_69MisOvWVN-E63g6mqsl1CDu2XX3-g/viewform

Dare to Follow Retreat: Please email our vocation director: Fr. Steven Weller: sweller@diolkc.org